


the stars and the moon (don't shine quite like we do)

by CyberpunkDreamland (scarletprophesy), scarletprophesy



Category: Guild Wars Series (Video Games), Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Dream Sequences, M/M, Minor Aleksandra "Zarya" Zaryanova/Mei-Ling Zhou, Slow Burn, deadeye - Freeform, dva brigitte and zarya will start heavy armor girl gang in later chapters, violent shimada brothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 15:24:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14475585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletprophesy/pseuds/CyberpunkDreamland, https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletprophesy/pseuds/scarletprophesy
Summary: Post-Reflections. Hanzo thought he was only coming along to help Genji and his friend out on a simple reconnaissance mission in Cuba; little did he know he was about to find a whole new realm of possibilities, and a man who can walk through the shadows.





	the stars and the moon (don't shine quite like we do)

 

They had been in Lijiang for two weeks, and Hanzo was both sad and glad that today was the last day. When Genji had reached out to him, asking for help with a "let's not call it Overwatch but yes Overwatch" mission, Hanzo had expected it to take three days, at most. This wasn't the first time Genji had reached out, seeking help with this or that for the newly reformed vigilante organization, and this wasn't the first time Hanzo has agreed. This time had definitely been the longest they were on a mission together, sharing a hotel room, ducking through fog-filled streets and shady alleys, spying on various executives, breaking and entering...

Tonight, that was over.

As of tonight though, Winston had declared that the Shimada brothers were done - they'd gotten the intel Winston and Athena had needed, and the mission was finally complete. And tomorrow, Genji would head to Gibraltar, or Nepal, or whatever exotic location he was hanging out in these days - and Hanzo would head back home, to his latest minimalist penthouse apartment with a couch too white to sit on and glass tables, in the heart of Tokyo where no one would find him amidst the crowds. 

Tonight, Hanzo and Genji were trying to pretend they are just normal brothers - as normal as you can be when one of you is a cyborg, and the other is the reason for that cyborg body. They'd talked about it enough in the past. Hopefully, Hanzo would not need to talk about it again today. What had possessed Genji to seek him out, to forgive him, to rebuild, Hanzo could not begin to imagine, but after six months of it he had accepted Genji's intentions. Mostly. 

Genji had asked him to join Overwatch before. Hanzo wasn't on the official Overwatch roster, and most days, he thought it would just be a chore. There are nights he found himself considering it, sure, cold nights, lonely nights. Most likely, tomorrow would be one of those nights. 

The district around Lijiang Tower was trendy. The architecture was a mixture of traditional and new, pagodas and hard light and concrete. Foggy nights, neon lights, garish advertisements, street food stalls, pounding beats of nightclub remixes - the sort of place Genji would have sought out when they were younger. On a Friday night, the narrow streets are filled with jubilant young people; the trendy and fashionable crowds looking for an escape from the everyday grind, for a distraction, and for a way to burn their hard earned money. If someone told Hanzo a year ago that this was where he'd be and that he'd actually want to be here, he would have thought them crazy. And yet, there he was, dressed in a plain hoodie and jeans, inside one of the trendiest tattoo parlors the side streets have to offer. 

"Are you seeing anything you like, Hanzo?" 

If someone had told him that Genji would be with him, he would have killed them for their impudence. Except Genji is actually here, and Hanzo is only now finally getting used to it. 

"I was thinking of adding another dragon," Hanzo said, and Genji laughed. He was also dressed casually, with a hoodie covering up most of his metal parts. He had left his mask in the hotel, and rather than his electronic voice Hanzo was hearing his brother, just as he remembered him.

His scarred face had gotten them a couple of glances, but the Omnic Crisis really was not that long ago. A few girls had even eyed his brother up appreciatively and Hanzo had wanted to laugh - this was just a touch too similar to when they were young. 

"You should branch out into other mythical creatures. How about a mermaid?" Genji asked. 

Hanzo pretended to think about it, and shook his head. "I don't think I'm one for mermaids. I could consider a sea serpent."

Genji scoffed. "So, a wet dragon?" he asked. Hanzo snickered at that. 

"You're right, maybe not," he said, and stepped over to the next display - mostly feathers and flowers and watercolor drips. This isn't quite what he wanted, either. He didn't really know what he wanted, or if he even wanted anything.  

Genji opened his mouth, probably to retort, when his comm unit chirped. Hanzo knew just by the ringtone - it was probably Winston. 

"Shall we continue this some other time?" Hanzo asked. Genji nodded.

They ducked out of the tattoo parlor and into a nearby alley to call back Winston, in case the mission was not as over as they thought it was. Hanzo glanced around furtively to make sure they were not being watched. Squatting behind a large and smelly dumpster in a dead end alleyway was as low-key as it was going to get for this mission. The noise and flickering neon lights of the main street would make it hard to see if anyone was coming, but if they made it quick...

Genji tapped the button to return Winston's call, and after only one ring they were greeted by the now familiar face of the gorilla. 

"Hanzo, I know you are all ready to return to Japan, but I don't suppose I can convince you to stick with us for one more mission?" Winston asked, in lieu of a greeting. Hanzo frowned. 

"This has been a long mission," he said carefully, though in the back of his head was the thought that  _he can see Genji for even longer, maybe, and it won't make up for what they missed but..._

"We could really use your help with this one," Winston replied. "Genji, you remember Jesse had said he would be heading to Dorado for the holidays?"

"Vividly," Genji said. "He would not stop talking about the tamales, I swear." 

Winston chuckled, and Hanzo marvelled at the fact that a gorilla is able to chuckle. How much work had that taken to learn? 

"He's been following a trail from Dorado all the way to Cuba, and he's stumbled onto something big," Winston continued. "In Havana, specifically."

Genji frowned, as much as he could with what was left of his face. "Watchpoint Havana?" he asked. 

Winston sighed. "Everyone else is on other missions currently, so I have no one else I can ask. You'd rendezvous with him and check on what's going on - Jesse has been... laconic about the details."

"As well he should be, you never know who's listening," Genji replied, then sighed. "I am willing to go, Winston. Hanzo, what do you think? Can we convince you to come?"

Hanzo thought about it. On one hand, more time spent with Overwatch is not necessarily a good thing. On the other hand, more time spent with Genji... 

"Will there be good alcohol?" Hanzo asked.  

Genji laughed at that. "Brother, we are talking about Cuba... the finest rum you can find," he said. "Daquiris, so many daquiris everywhere, your little shriveled alcoholic heart would sing." 

Hanzo took a moment to think it over. Genji, warm weather, liver damage, and rum. 

"Okay, I'm in," he said. Genji fist pumped, and on the other end of the line Hanzo heard a sigh of relief from Winston. 

"Athena will forward you the plane tickets, you'll be leaving at 0600 tomorrow morning," Winston said. 

They made their goodbyes, and slipped out of the alley as quietly as they came into the busy street. 

"So, brother, we have two options as I see it," Genji said, and Hanzo nodded, waiting for him to go on. "Option A, we can go back to the hotel, and pack and get a good night's rest."

Hanzo smirked. "What's option B?" he asked. 

Genji feigned an innocent look as best he could, and gestured at the food stalls ahead of them. "Option B, we spend the night finding as many dessert stalls as we can, and sleep on the flight there. Look, they've got persimmon donuts, those are seasonal you know," he said. 

Hanzo grinned and followed his brother in the direction of the stall. "Aren't they supposed to strengthen your spleen?" he asked.

Genji shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure I have a spleen left, brother..." They both laughed at that.

Tomorrow, they would be out on Overwatch business. Tonight, they were just two ordinary men on an ordinary street, looking for donuts. 

 

\--

 

_Golden sand stretched out as far as the eye could see, the dry heat engulfing him, burning him to the core. Loose rocks crunched under his boots. In the distance rock outcroppings rose up into the sky. A bird cawed, menacingly, high above him._

_"This is what you see," he heard himself say. "This is what you see every time."_

_A low chuckle echoed behind him. "Sugar, you ain't seen the half of it yet. Just you wait," a man drawled in English._

_Hanzo looked over and the man's a blur of rusty red and writhing shadows._

_"Will I see you again?" he asked. Whirlwinds begin to rise up up from under their feet, kicking up a dust storm around them._

_"Sooner than you think, Archer." The voice whispered in his ear, rough and gravelly._

Hanzo woke up with a start. 

He's on a plane, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Next to him was only Genji. There is no desert. 

 

\--

 

Two planes and a hangover later, the Shimada brothers found themselves at the small airport in Havana. Hanzo still wore sunglasses, for a disguise and definitely not because the sun was too bright. Palms of customs agents in 3 countries were greased, and suspicious cases with possibly weapons inside were not looked at. Genji, of the two surprisingly was armed with better Spanish; he herded Hanzo outside and caught a cab with dark windows that did not look too sketchy, but sketchy enough to not care where they were going. Some excited chatter between Genji and the cabbie later they were en route to an area where they'd walk to the safe house Winston was providing them. 

After they settled in and the car lurched into motion, Hanzo finally dared to take off his sunglasses. 

"I didn't know you could speak Spanish so well," Hanzo said. Genji snickered at that.

"You're going to meet the reason I do soon if everything goes according to plan," Genji said. Hanzo raised an eyebrow at that, expecting further info. "Well, one of the reasons anyway. We were in Blackwatch together." 

"I haven't met them before, have I?" Hanzo asked. Genji shook his head. 

"He and I were in Blackwatch together. He was... I guess you could say he was the second in command," Genji said, shrugged. "Jesse was... He was Reyes's right hand man. I think he left Blackwatch shortly after I did, went vigilante. Has a bounty on his head, but who doesn't these days?"

Genji paused, looking out the window, and Hanzo mulled all the information over. "So, a covert operative... what are his specialties?"

"He's a sharpshooter, I've never seen him miss a shot," Genji replied, and took out his comm unit, began scrolling. "Bit of your type, really. He can be very charming, and he's good at blending in, so he did a lot of the infiltration work. As you can imagine, looking like I do, I wasn't of much use in terms of... covert operations." Hanzo winced and nodded. 

"And this man... he taught you _Spanish_?" he asked, instead, to redirect the conversation. 

"Well, the thing with Blackwatch was, when you were in close quarters with people from so many places, you'd just pick up bits and pieces of each other's languages," Genji said, and shrugged. "Reyes encouraged us learning other languages, and Jesse was more than happy to help me learn once I asked him. It gave me something new to focus on." 

"This Jesse... you trust him? If I recall, you said a lot of Blackwatch went to Talon after Overwatch disbanded," Hanzo asked. 

Genji sighed, fiddled with his comm. "Jesse is... very righteous. At least, he was back then. He saw things black and white, good and bad. I remember, before we left... He and I were talking. He spoke of how the changes in Reyes, in our coworkers, were scaring him. I wish I had listened. I really just wanted revenge, so I left to seek it." 

"The elders feared you. The Silver Shadow of Hanamura, they said." Hanzo said, and chuckled. 

Genji laughed with him. "I'm glad to hear they _were_ scared." he said. 

"And they were right, were they not? They are all dead now." Hanzo replied.

Genji made his best innocent face at him. "Do you mourn them, brother?" he asked. 

"I mourned you," Hanzo replied, and grinned. 

Genji laughed again. "Isn't it fortunate, then, that we mourn no longer?" 

"So it is, I suppose," Hanzo replied. 

They sat in easy silence for a while, and Hanzo settled for watching pastel colored buildings and palm trees out the window. Cuba was left largely unaffected by the Omnic Crisis; it became a thriving tourist destination again. People flocked to places like Havana, Dorado, and other tropical, colorful locations to take great photos and forget their troubles. 

In another life, Hanzo and Genji could have been just another pair of siblings on holiday. 

 

\--

 

The bar Genji chose for the first meeting was decidedly not to Hanzo's tastes. Garish and dark and crowded, loud pounding music and thick rolling fog that obscured the crowd from view. If it were up to Hanzo, they would have made the meeting somewhere neutral, maybe at the quiet hotel bar, or in one of the multiple cafes with outdoor patios and strings of lights. Or maybe a nice rooftop. There was nothing wrong with rooftops. But no, Genji had chosen this location ("Think of the strategic value, Hanzo!" he had exclaimed, and Hanzo had decided not to argue) and they were going to go ahead and... have a clandestine meeting... in a trendy nightclub, designed with tourists in mind. 

The nightclub in question, La Sirena, was the hottest with the young and glamorous crowd; Hanzo was fortunate enough to have found a spot at the bar on the second floor, overlooking the busy dance floor and the packed first floor bar. There was far too many elaborate fake-antique archways, and far too many hard light palm trees. The ceiling of the club was decorated with hard light flowers in bright glowing pinks, greens, teals, and yellows; they shifted and rippled constantly. Hanzo avoided looking up; the unending movement made his motion sickness act up. There was too much light, and, simultaneously, too little; the flashes of neon and flickering strobe lights, and the unnatural glow of hard light installations were not enough to pierce through the shadows of the cavernous space. 

If Hanzo never saw another damn hard light installation again it would be too soon. 

"God damn it, Genji," Hanzo muttered under his breath, and sipped on his daiquiri.

A burst of static buzzed through Hanzo's ear, and he could hear Genji laughing on the other end of the comm. "Just relax and enjoy it, brother," he said. 

"Are you done scouting yet?" Hanzo asked, and glared at a gaggle of girls in tight dresses who were looking at him as if he were a steak on discount at the butcher's shop. 

"Soon... Let me know if you see him!" Genji replied. Hanzo groaned and rolled his eyes. 

"Genji, for fuck's sake, you never even showed me a photo of this man." 

The only answer Hanzo got was laughter. He gave up and instead continued to squint at the dark nightclub, the hazy movement of the masses of people. He knew he had to stay alert because it would be so easy for him to just zone out, lulled into a sense of false calmness by the swirling fog and the constant thrum of the speakers. 

To his left, a bar stool scraped, and Hanzo turned, startled. The most ruggedly handsome man slid into a seat a few spots down, and shot him a roguish smile. Despite himself, Hanzo looked the newcomer over. He was tall, one of the tallest men Hanzo saw tonight, and muscular. Wide shoulders, dark skin, eyes like honey, worn jeans, a leather jacket, and most ludicrously of all a _cowboy hat_ that cast shadows over his face. Hanzo felt his mouth go dry. 

The handsome stranger turned away, and flagged down the omnic bartender. Hanzo was not the only one to notice how attractive the man was; several people, both male and female, were eyeing up the newcomer with curiosity and thirst in their eyes. 

"Focus," Hanzo muttered to himself.

"What, sorry?" Genji asked. 

"Are you nearly done?" Hanzo replied instead, hiding behind his daiquiri and still watching the cowboy. The omnic bartender had brought the man a whiskey.

"You tell me, brother." Genji replied, and before Hanzo could think of something adequately witty to say, his brother appeared next to him, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. 

"You move far too quietly for someone who is mostly metal," Hanzo groused. Genji was holding a daiquiri of his own, with three umbrellas and a flamingo, and looked like he was enjoying himself. The LED lights of his body armor were lit up. "Are you in disguise as a Christmas tree?" 

Genji laughed. "Hey, McCree!" he called, waving. The handsome stranger turned, and his face lit up in recognition. 

"That's the guy?" Hanzo hissed at his brother. Genji laughed again. Damn asshole. 

"Told you he's a bit of your type, brother," he said to Hanzo, then looked back to the cowboy. "McCree, get over here!" 

The man slid out of his seat and swaggered over, drink in hand. "Howdy, y'all. Genji, who's this handsome fellow with you?"

Hanzo blinked in alarm and tried to put on his best resting bitch face. Genji snorted. "What handsome fellow? Oh, him? That's my brother, Hanzo," Genji replied, and clapped the cowboy on the shoulder. 

"The murderous one?" the cowboy asked, light and casual as if they were discussing the weather. He had a deep, rumbling voice that sent shivers down Hanzo's spine.

"Do I have any other ones?" Genji replied in his fake-innocent tone. Hanzo kicked Genji in the shin out of pure instinct, and regretted it instantly as he'd forgotten Genji was now mostly metal. Mistakes. 

"My name is Hanzo Shimada," Hanzo said, with his best bored and imperious tone. "I was asked by Commander Winston to accompany Genji here to assist with the operation you have been planning." 

The cowboy slid into the seat next to Hanzo. "Name's McCree. Pleased to meet you. Genji said you were a dick. He left out the part where yer easy on the eyes, though," he drawled, a dangerous smile playing at the corners of his lips. 

Genji groaned. "Jesse that is my brother I will _literally_ stab you," he said. Hanzo buried his face in his hands. 

"Okay, okay, no stabbing, please, thank you," McCree groused. "No, but seriously, this one here is the one that tried to murder ya, right?"

Hanzo looked up, and feigned outrage. "What do you mean, tried? I think I did an okay job of it." There, that was worth it to see McCree blanch. 

"Don't worry about it, McCree, we went on Jerry Springer and we've worked past it now," Genji said, serene as can be. Hanzo snickered, and Genji started laughing too. McCree looked between the two of them, eyes narrowed in what was either confusion or concern. 

“I swear, you two are as violent as a nest of hornets. Can we talk about literally anythin' else?” McCree interjected.

"You asked!" Genji exclaimed, voice still tinged with hysteria. 

"And I sure am sorry I did," McCree complained, and threw back his drink. "Let's get down to business."

Hanzo chuckled and steepled his fingers. "Yes, Winston was not too clear, but he mentioned you may be getting lured into a trap?" 

"Sugar, I'm getting lured into a trap every day, I'm used to that. This feels different," McCree said, frowned, seemingly unsure. "An' not just cause it used to be Blackwatch. _Somethin'_ ain't right."

Hanzo glanced at a pair of particularly giggly blonde girls next to a glowing plantlike structure by an archway, giddy and eyeing up McCree like he was candy. "Start from the top, cowboy. What led you there in particular?" he asked. 

"I got word from a contact of mine while I was in Dorado about some experiments that went down at the Watchpoint here in Havana. I was told there might still be some... records, or evidence, or something like that stored in the facilities here." McCree said. He paused; the omnic bartender approached them and deposited another whiskey in front of McCree. McCree tipped his hat at the bartender, and picked up the new drink. 

Hanzo waited until the omnic was out of earshot, and glanced at the two girls who still hovered nearby. "And you are willing to risk walking into a trap for... research data? Research data that may or may not exist?" he asked. McCree shrugged, and sipped his whiskey.

"I know, it seems like a far shot, don't it?" he said, and sighed. "I'll be honest, I'm just followin' my gut on this one. Feels like part of the puzzle. Blackwatch's where it all went wrong, y'know." 

Genji nudged McCree. "I think we're about to have some company." 

Hanzo looked back up; sure enough, the two girls who'd been hovering by the archways for a solid five minutes now were heading their way. 

"Define _company,_ ninja," McCree's voice sounded exhausted, and for a second Hanzo felt a chilling, bone-deep wave of tiredness wash over him, too. 

"Uhh... two girls? They are most likely about to make you an offer. They've been eyeing you up for the past... ten minutes? So..." Hanzo trailed off, looked back at McCree, who rolled his eyes. 

"Let's meet in a nightclub, he said. It'll be secure and no one will spy on us, he said," McCree glared at Genji then, who did his best innocent shrug and hid behind his half-empty drink. McCree threw back the rest of his whiskey and set the glass down on the bar with more force than necessary. 

The girls came up to them, all giggles and flirtatious smiles. "Hi there!" one of them chirped. Upon closer inspection, they were even younger than Hanzo had thought; probably eighteen or nineteen years old, American accents, so maybe students down for a wild vacation. 

While they were chatting up McCree (and honestly, he could not blame them when the man looked like that), Hanzo looked around, trying to come up with a diversion. The only thing he could think of was the canisters of tear gas hidden in his backpack, and honestly that would have been overkill. Or maybe they could just run? 

Genji beat him to it, a comm unit held to his ear. "Oh no, ladies, I apologize, but my cowboy friend here has just received a call from his wife that he really must take," he said, and handed the comm over to McCree, who took it with a grin on his face.

"Hi honey!" 

The maneuver worked for now, but as the girls departed Hanzo counted several others who were eyeing up the three of them at the bar. "Genji, I thought you said we would be unobtrusive here," he hissed at his brother. Genji shrugged. 

"So I thought," he replied. 

McCree put down the comm unit, done with his pretend call with his pretend wife. "I feel like I've got more eyes on me than a congressman in a hotel room with three cameras and four hookers," he said with distaste. "Any chance we can move this elsewhere?" he asked. 

Hanzo sighed. "I told you we should have just met at the hotel." 

Genji rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine, let's split up, we'll meet up back at the hotel. McCree, you're at the same one as us, right?"

A nod from the cowboy. "Affirmative." 

"Then we'll see you there," Hanzo said. He stood up, and left, not waiting for his brother or the cowboy to catch up. 

 _Ridiculous_ , _honestly._

Hanzo worked his way through the crowd, down the stairs, and slipped out of the nightclub's back door and into the humid but blissfully quiet night in a satisfyingly short time. He took to the rooftops, and as he leaped from roof to roof the haziness and claustrophobia of the club finally began to fade. 

At least, there was plenty of beauty to look at in Cuba. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this fic since February, when I swear I finished reading literally all of the McHanzo on AO3 and even went on FFN to check there too. A few things:
> 
> 1\. most of this is not quite beta-ed so if you see mistakes come yell at me  
> 2\. i haven't written a multi-chapter fanfic since ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 10th grade which was more than a decade ago  
> 3\. you do not need to know anything about guild wars to read this; i am merely borrowing some lore from their world.  
> 4\. i want to thank my own personal equivalent of a Blackwatch strike team for their continued support these past few months as I chewed on a plot outline, vomited terrible plot bunnies, went off on tangents, spammed them with my overwatch feelings at all hours of day and night, and dragged them into this flaming dumpster that has become my life. Jenny, Dylan, Lex you are the heroes of my heart, and heroes never die. And also a thank you to Kyrsten for assisting me with southernisms.  
> 5\. please come talk to me about mchanzo or overwatch in general on tumblr https://cyberpunkdreamland.tumblr.com/ im a midnight cowboy (reblogging my feelings)  
> 6\. title of fic is from hymn by kesha
> 
> concrit is more than welcome!! :)


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